The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Roy Jacobs. Jacobs joined the Navy in March of 1942. In 1943 he was transferred to Hawaii, serving on the staff of Commander Gilbert Wren. He served there until the end of the war. Jacobs’ job was working with operations on all new missions and selecting all officer personnel that fit the demands of those operations. He provides some details of his work with Port Director, Captain Hyman Rickover with the atomic submarine force. His discharge date is not noted, though he left the service after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James D McLaughan, following another interview from 2001. McLaughan joined the Army Air Forces after completing three years of college at Cal Poly. He was stationed at Hamilton Field as a pilot with the 70th Fighter Squadron when the war broke out. He participated in the Yamamoto mission and notes that Rex Barber, who got the kill, always charged into a fight, and that Admiral Halsey sent two cases of fine whiskey to the squadron as a token of appreciation for their completing the mission. His squadron also discovered the airfield at Munda Point, which was hidden by palm trees, and attacked it daily until ground forces took over. McLaughan and his squadron developed the first firebombs by dropping thermite bombs housed within in gasoline-filled water bombs, which they dropped over Tokyo. He believes their technique was the inspiration for napalm.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert G. Bass. Bass was born in Walnut, Illinois on 18 November 1922. He was drafted into the Army in February 1943. After three months of basic and combat military police training at Fort Riley, Kansas, Bass was accepted in the Army Specialized Training Program at the University of Indiana. The program was disbanded in early 1944 and Bass was sent first to an armored infantry unit and then to the 243rd Combat Engineers, training at Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky. On 22 October 1944 the unit sailed to Europe. After a brief stay in England, they crossed the English Channel to La Havre. In December, they were in Belgium in the area where the Battle of the Bulge was being fought. In early 1945 they were on the move to Germany attached to the 1107th Engineering Group, doing road work, clearing mines and building bridges in support of the 87th Infantry. They built a pontoon bridge across the Rhine, crossed, and continued east to Schmolln. They were there when Germany surrendered. Bass and the unit were sent to Erfurt to process German prisoners of war. Erfurt being in the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Regis Butler. Butler joined the Army Air Forces in March of 1942. He completed flight training and classes in aircraft structures and mechanics. He worked at Bell Aircraft Plant in Niagara Falls to become familiar with P-39s and completed additional classes at Kelly Field in San Antonio on various phases of engines, controls and instruments. He served as a project engineer with the 5th Air Force, 4th Air Service Command, 13th Air Depot, and the Black Cat Squadron. Around February of 1943 they traveled across the Pacific by troop ship to New Caledonia and Guadalcanal. The squadron’s job was to do night patrols, seek out targets and rescue downed pilots. Butler engineered parts and made plane modifications as needed with the PBY, B-25, C-47, P-38 and P-51 aircraft. He traveled to Biak, to survey the airfields in preparation to relocate their squadron. He shares his experiences moving across these Pacific islands, his encounters with the natives and establishing a repair depot in Biak. Butler was discharged in December of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward Daniels. Daniels was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts 9 February 1921. Upon graduating from high school in 1939, he joined the Navy. Completing boot training at Newport, Rhode Island, he was temporarily assigned to the USS Arkansas (BB-33). He was transferred, as a seaman, to the USS Badger (DD-126). Six months later, he was assigned to the USS Dallas (DD-199) as a quartermaster. Recalling convoy duty in the Atlantic, he describes the extreme weather conditions encountered. After a brief period of time aboard the USS PC-562, he was assigned to APc-21. He endured the experience of the ship being sunk by Japanese bombs off New Britain. Daniels was put aboard the USS Brownson (DD-518) only to have it attacked and sunk a week later. Returning to the United States he was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Hospital before being assigned duty as quartermaster on various LSTs being ferried from St. Louis to New Orleans. He was then sent to Boston where he instructed ensigns on the use of a compass. Daniels was discharged in 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Horrell. Horrell completed ROTC infantry classes at Western Kentucky University, then joined the Army in May of 1943. He completed Armored Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in September of 1943. He was assigned to the 92nd Reconnaissance Squad, B Company, 66th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division. He had additional training at Camp Campbell in Kentucky, driving half tracks, completing maneuvers and reconnoitering the area. Horrell served as an Armored Infantry Platoon Leader in half tracks. Around June of 1944 they traveled to England, then on to Le Havre, France in November of that same year. He was then assigned to the 7th Army and they completed armored vehicle attacks and maneuvers. They participated in a battle in Stuttgart, Germany. He was discharged in 1946. He retired from the Reserves as a lieutenant colonel.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Buster Simmons. Simmons joined the Army National Guard in September of 1940. He served as a combat medic with the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division throughout the European theater. He provides some details of his basic and medical training. By 1942 Simmons had worked up to Staff Sergeant and was assigned to Camp Blanding, Florida. After 7 December 1941 their camp began receiving casualties, sending out replacement troops and retraining new recruits for combat. In the fall of 1943 they transferred to Camp Atterbury, Indiana. In February of 1944 they traveled to Scotland aboard the USS Argentina. His detachment was designated to man the ship’s hospital. As First Sergeant at this point, Simmons work was mainly administrative and teaching other medics. His division landed on Omaha Beach in June of 1944 and traveled into Germany, participating in the Battle of the Bulge along the way. He shares vivid details of his experiences traveling through France and Germany, including German counterattacks made upon their group and casualties of fellow servicemen. He was discharged in June of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with C Everette Smith. Smith joined the Navy in September of 1943. He completed Hospital Corpsman School. He was assigned as a corpsman aboard LST 291. In March of 1944 they traveled to England. They participated in the Normandy landings off Omaha Beach in June of 1944. They made 26 trips to France, treating many casualties with basic First Aid in their small hospital aboard ship. Smith provides vivid details of his experiences aboard as a corpsman. Beginning in March of 1945, through the end of the war, he was assigned to the Subic Bay Naval Hospital. He was discharged in April of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Carl Woods. Woods was born on a homestead in Phillips County, Montana into a family of nine children. He comments on family life during the Great Depression. He enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and went to boot training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois. He was then selected to attend hospital corpsman school and describes the training and medical experience he gained before volunteering for submarine duty. After attending Submarine School and receiving additional medical training he was sent to Pearl Harbor where he went aboard the USS Euryale (AS-22) and went to Guam in August 1945. In September 1945 the ship arrived at Kuri, Japan where the crew assisted in destroying one hundred seventy-five Japanese midget submarines. They proceeded to Sasebo, where they destroyed several aircraft carrier submarines. Woods recalls that five Japanese submarines of various sizes where taken to Pearl Harbor for research purposes. He was aboard the ship at dock and experienced a typhoon in December 1945. Returning to the United States, he was assigned to the USS Ronquil (SS-396). In 1953 he was sent to Korea. There he was assigned as the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Cates. Cates was born in San Antonio, Texas on 19 January 1927 and joined the Navy in 1944. Upon enlisting he was sent to San Diego for boot camp. Upon completion of the training he was sent to Astoria, Washington where he reported aboard the USS Clinton (APA-144). His experiences aboard the Clinton included evacuating the wounded from Guam, picking up a large group of Japanese prisoners on Okinawa for delivery to Pearl Harbor and traveling to Haiphong, French Indochina to pick up Chinese National Revolutionary Army troops to be delivered to the Manchurian border. Cates received his discharge after serving twenty-two months in the Navy.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard L Hamil. Hamil joined the Navy in 1942 and received basic training in Newport. He studied diesel engines in Virginia, although it was strictly book-learning as there were no engines available to practice on. Upon completion, he was assigned to the engine room of USS LST-447, his battle station at a 40-millimeter gun, as a loader. His ship carried supplies and Marines throughout the Pacific, often coming under attack. They were struck by a kamikaze at Okinawa, which caused an explosion and killed half a dozen of their crew. When Hamil abandoned ship, kamikazes nearly hit the ship that rescued him. Hamil was sent home on 6 April 1945 and discharged in October.

Transcript of an oral interview with Clinton Edward Stork. Stork joined the Navy in early 1943 and took basic training at San Diego. Upon completion of training, Stork was assigned to the USS Tennessee (BB-43), and joined her at Bremerton, Washington. Stork sailed with the Tennessee to the Aleutian Islands and patrolled there and in the Bering Sea. His job aboard the Tennessee was working on the shell deck. All the 16-inch shells were stored there and Stork's team hoisted them up to turret #1 to be fired. Stork mentions some of the action the Tennessee particpated in during its tour of the Pacific: the Palaus, the marshalls, the Philippines, etc. He also describes being a sideboy when Admiral Nimitz boarded the Tennessee at Pearl Harbor one day. Stork also describes the kamikaze attack on the Tennessee off Okinawa. He spotted the formation of planes coming in low first. Six of the seven were shot down, but the seventh struck the Tennessee. He also mentions going ashore briefly in Tokyo and Yokohama before cruising back to the US via Cape Town, South Africa.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Lawrence Sykora. Sykora joined the Army Air Forces in May of 1943. He completed schooling in Radio, Mechanics and Aerial Gunnery by February of 1944. He was assigned to the 14th Air Force, 308th Bomb Group, 374th Bomb Squadron. He deployed to China, serving as a radio operator and top turret gunner aboard B-24s. They made numerous trips over the Himalaya Mountains. They supported Chinese ground forces by attacking airfields, coal yards, docks, oil refineries and fuel dumps in French Indochina and Burma. Sykora completed 39 missions, returned to the US and was discharged in late September 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward Warren. Warren was born in 1925 and graduated from high school in 1943. After being drafted in July 1943, he was sent to Camp Wheeler near Macon, Georgia for basic training. Upon completion of basic, he went to Glasgow, Scotland and arrived there 25 January 1944. He then went to Plymouth, England where he was assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, 116th Infantry Regiment which began intensive training in preparation for participation in Operation Overlord. Warren describes the equipment he carried as he boarded an LCVP for transportation to the beach and tells of the craft being hit by enemy fire. He was wounded and sent to a hospital in England. During August 1944, he returned to his unit at Vire, France. The unit was involved in the battle for the Port of Brest and he recalls seeing a large number of dead German soldiers. At Maastricht, Holland the division joined the 2nd Armored Division to move through the Siegfried Line. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge and crossed the Ruhr River. After the Germans surrendered, the division was sent to Bremerhaven, Germany as part …

Transcript of an oral interview with Anton Frank Satsky. Born in 1918, he was drafted into the Army in 1942 where he was assigned to the Second Infantry Division. He went to Armored Assistance Specialist School. He also received baking and ski training. He describes landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day plus 1 as well as advancing up Hill 192. He recounts a narrow escape while on guard duty in Notre Dame. He also describes the Battle of the Bulge in which he was wounded. When he was wounded a second time, he was sent to McCloskey General Hospital in Temple, Texas. He shares anecdotes about the obtaining food while in the field in Europe; a fellow soldier obtaining soft drinks despite German snipers; and his experience with the Red Cross. He discusses the clothing and rifles that were issued to soldiers.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bill Knuth. The Great Depression caused Knuth and his father to relocate often due to financial hardship. After the tenth move, Knuth sought refuge in the Navy in 1944. After basic training he was assigned as a deckhand to the USS Tulsa (PG-22). His battle station was at the 20-millimeter trunnion, unloading spent magazines. In his spare time he managed to converse with Chinese crewmen, despite the language barrier. Arriving in the Philippines in October 1944, the Tulsa was put on escort duty but was rarely used, due to its tendency to outpace other ships. Often under attack by enemy planes in the Philippines, the crew also had to be alert to Japanese saboteurs hiding under boxes that were floating down the river. In 1945, the ship’s name was changed to the USS Tacloban and erroneously received supplies bound for the new Tulsa, which happily included phonograph records. Knuth took an interest in electronics and learned to operate a film projector. Before returning home, he weathered five typhoons, and after arriving safely in November 1945 he stayed in the service another year.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Eugene Strathman. Strathman joined the Navy in the fall of 1943. He completed signal school and was assigned to LSM-11. They hauled tank destroyers. He provides some details of the LSM and its armament. They traveled to Hilo, Hawaii. Aboard the LSM he served as a cook. In January of 1945 they participated in the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf. They were the first ship to hit the beach. He describes some of the air raids of kamikaze planes that he witnessed. His battle station was on the 20mm anti-aircraft gun. They participated in the Battle of Okinawa in April of 1945, and then the invasion of Ie Shima. He describes his experiences at these battles. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Charles Callanan. Callanan joined the Army in March of 1942. He trained in California, building airstrips, hangars, temporary bridges, Quonset huts and worked on other construction projects. Callanan served as a master sergeant with the 1876th Engineer Aviation Battalion in New Guinea and in the Philippines. He returned to the US in December of 1945.

Transcript of an oral interview with Daniel Samuelson. Samuelson joined the Army Air Force in 1943 after one semester at Louisiana State University. After he turned 18 in early 1944, he was called to active duty. After basic training, Samuelson went to aerial gunnery school at Kingman, Arizona. Upon completion there, he was assigned to a B-17 crew. His crew was selected to go to Cuba on a goodwill mission. After that, his crew flew to England, where he was assigned to the 95th Bomber Group, 8th Air Force. Samuelson describes some of the air raids he took part in over targets in Frankfurt, Germany. He completed 35 missions in April and was shipped home on a Liberty ship. When the war ended in the Pacific, Samuelson was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Tom Story. Story joined the Navy in October of 1934. Beginning September of 1936, he served as Quartermaster aboard USS Perkins (DD-377), operating out of San Diego. He was discharged in July, then re-enlisted and volunteered for submarine school. Story served aboard the USS S-45 (SS-156), completing antisubmarine warfare training. From early 1942 through early 1943, they completed war patrols in the Solomon Islands. Beginning April of 1943, Story was transferred to the USS Pargo (SS-264), completing war patrols in the East China Sea. Beginning early 1945, he served aboard the USS Chanticleer (ASR-7), completing war patrols in Port Darwin, Australia.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Boren. Boren joined the Marine Corps in 1943 under the V-12 program in Monticello, Arkansas. Upon graduating, he was sent to basic training at Parris Island. He received advanced weapons training at Camp Lejeune in preparation for the invasion of Japan. After the war ended, he was stationed at Pearl Harbor in a commander’s office, handling mail and confidential messages. Boren returned home and was discharged in May 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John Craddock. Craddock joined the Marine Corps in May 1942 and attended boot camp at Parris Island. He soon entered the V-12 program and upon completion returned to Parris Island. After further training at Camp Lejeune, he attended platoon commander’s training at Quantico. He then prepared for the invasion of Japan at Camp Pendleton and Hawaii. After the war ended, he was sent to Guam to flush out Japanese holdouts. He was then assigned to China, primarily guarding the railroad from communists. Mostly it was quiet duty, highlighted by a search-and-rescue mission after seven Marines were kidnapped. Craddock returned home and was discharged in July 1946. He enlisted in the Reserves and volunteered for the Korean War.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Wade. Wade was born on 23 November 1921 in Nolanville, Texas and attended John Tarleton College where he completed Civilian Pilot Training. As a cadet he trained in P-38s at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, followed by advanced training in 1943 at North Island Naval Air Base in California. Upon completion of training he flew to Nadzab, New Guinea for his first combat assignment with the Fifth Air Force, Eighth Fighter Group, Thirty-Sixth Squadron. He flew escort missions for B-24s. He also qualified in the bombers and transferred to the Forty-Third Bomber Group flying out of Biak. He flew the first B-24 to land on Leyte while ferrying in replacement radio operators. He flew subsequent missions out of Tacloban and then Clark Air Base in bombing runs over Formosa and Okinawa. Next, he volunteered to return to the Eighth Fighter Group, Thirty-Sixth Squadron flying P-38s out of Mindoro. His squadron was sent to Ie Shima to support operations on Okinawa. After the war Wade flew over Hiroshima and provides details of the devastation. He escorted the hierarchy of the Japanese military flying in a Mitsubishi G4M Betty …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert Rhoades. Rhoades joined the Navy in February 1942 and received basic training in San Diego. He received gunnery training at an armed guard school and upon completion was assigned to a Merchant Marine ship, the SS Canfield, carrying supplies to Halifax. He then served aboard the SS Potomac, bringing Army supplies to Panama and returning with raw sugar. The ship was coal-powered and broke down in the Gulf of Mexico; so upon return, Rhoades asked to be transferred. He went aboard the SS Jose Bonifacio (USAT-907), a Liberty ship built by Kaiser, with a load of Army jeeps for Perth. He then brought a P-51 to Calcutta, where poverty and differences in culture left a lasting impression on him. The ship brought a load of 300 monkeys back to New York City for research experiments, and Rhoades was transferred to the MV Cape Matapan (C1-A-292), which brought supplies to Army personnel in Chile. The last ship he served on was the SS Sapulpa Victory (V-14), taking small arms and ammunition to New Guinea and bringing bombs to the Marianas. He was then stationed on Ulithi and witnessed …